At All Costs - Reader/Shinobu Kocho(FxF)

Training

You groaned loudly as Kanao slammed her foot atop your head. You regretted ever telling her to not go easy on you. 

"That quick could've been a little softer." You mumbled under your breath as you stood up with her help. She just stared at you as you cleaned the dirt off of you. "Again."

"I'm don't want to hurt you."

Kanao whispers to you. The coin had said to train with you but she didn't like to hurt you. She cared about you and the last thing she wanted was to hurt you. 

"I'll be fine. I need to get better, Kanao. I want to be able to protect all of you. I can't do that if I'm weak." You sighed as you made your way over to sit on the stairs. "Shinobu is carrying so much on her shoulders and yet she does it with a smile. I worry about what she's hiding behind it. The least I can do to help ease the weight on her shoulders is protect the girls when the two of you leave."

Kanao remains quiet, listening to you talk about how you wish you could do more to help Shinobu. She couldn't understand why you wished to train when you already did so much for all of them. It was suppose to be her and Shinobu's job to protect all of you. The wisteria around the estate helped keep the demons away so it didn't make sense as to why you wanted to train. You must have another reason. She needed to talk to Shinobu about the late night training session that the two of you did behind her back. 

"You do so much."

You give her a smile, handing her the cup of water. 

"Not enough."

You excused yourself and began to prepare for the day. Shinobu would finally arrive after a week's long mission and you wanted to make her favorite. 

X

Kanao remained quiet as she watched Shinobu put on Kanae's haori. It had been a while since she had last seen it. One day, it was in the altar and the next day it was gone. 

"I had them fix it for me. It took them a while since I had them only do it while I watched over them."

Shinobu wrapped her arms around herself as she looked at herself in the mirror. The sight of Kanae's haori brought back the memories that she had buried months ago. Closing her eyes, she could see Kanae bleeding out. Tears begin to spill but she's quick to wipe them away. There was no point in crying anymore, Kanae was gone. Her eyes open when she hears the sound of Kanao's coin flipping. 

Flipping the coin, Kanao quickly assigned each choice. Heads to tell Shinobu, Tails to not tell her.  Landing on tails, she remains quiet. 

"Dinner is ready."

She mumbles out before leaving. Shinobu could tell that Kanao wanted to tell her something but there was nothing she could do once the decision had been made by the coin. She hoped Kanao would eventually tell her soon enough. 

X

The two of them arrived just in time for you to finish serving everyone. 

"Just on time. Please take a seat."

Shinobu frowned when she noticed the bandage on your cheek. She made her way over to you, gently grabbed ahold of your chin and made your head turn so she could have a better look at the bandage. 

"What happened?"

"I uh fell from the ladder when putting up the sheets to dry. You know me, I'm clumsy."

"Clumsy? You're the most careful person I know other than myself. What really happened?"

"I really fell, Shinobu. It's almost done healing so I'm okay."